COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Ohio State Shows Pride and Poise Against Penn State : Big Ten: Hoying, George lead unbeaten Buckeyes’ comeback victory over Nittany Lions, 28-25.

Ohio State Coach John Cooper used to go through life with a scowl on his face and the jittery look of someone being taken downtown for questioning. He led the Big Ten Conference in nervous beads of sweat, a category made famous by the constant criticism he endured for not winning when it mattered.

OK, will Saturday’s 28-25 victory over No. 12 Penn State . . . on Joe Pa’s home turf . . . in front of 96,655 fans and a national television audience . . . do for now?

It worked for Cooper, who, after seven mostly tortuous seasons as Buckeye coach, has found the kind of happiness that comes with a 5-0 record, a No. 5 ranking and a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback against the semi-despised Nittany Lions. So giddy was Cooper that he left the field needing clearance from air traffic control.

“All you have to do is win,” said Cooper, suddenly Al Davis in silver and scarlet. “Just keep winning, baby.”

The Buckeyes kept winning because Bobby Hoying kept throwing, because Eddie George kept running, because Ohio State’s receivers kept catching and because the officials kept botching calls, like the one that cost Penn State a fumble recovery early in the third quarter. Most of all they won because when it mattered most, the Buckeyes didn’t need their usual tracheotomy, something of a first during the Cooper Era (or Error, as Ohio State fans called it, as recently as last season).

This time, down, 25-21, with a little more than three minutes remaining in the game, the Buckeyes responded with a drive that left the Ohio State staff nibbling on fingernails and Larry Petroff, the team’s special assistant for football operations, making the sign of the cross then raising his arms toward the heavens. About the only thing Petroff didn’t do was ask the Pope to stop by Happy Valley.

The Buckeyes needed something, especially after Cooper and offensive coordinator Joe Hollis suffered what appeared to be dual brain cramping on fourth and one from the Penn State 21-yard line. Instead of handing the ball to George, Hollis ordered a sideline pattern for wide receiver Terry Glenn (nine catches, 175 yards, two touchdowns)--no slouch, but why take chances with a pass?

“We got man-to-man coverage,” Cooper tried to explain. “He’s the best receiver in the country.”

“I think they were expecting run,” George said.

Blah, blah, blah. Bottom line: Cornerback Mark Tate knocked the ball from Glenn’s hands and Penn State (3-2) got the ball on downs with five minutes left to play. A few first downs and who knows, maybe Ohio State joins Michigan, Colorado, Texas A&M; and Virginia as upset victims on Black Saturday.

Instead, the Buckeyes’ somewhat suspect defense shooed the Nittany Lions off the field after only four plays. Ohio State got the ball back at its own 42-yard line and tried to undo what Cooper and Hollis had wrought.

It took a while. After two incompletions, Hoying found Buster Tillman open for a 12-yard gain. On the next play, Hoying dropped back to pass, double-pumped then squeezed the ball past linebacker Gerald Filardi, who found himself chasing 6-foot-7, 240-pound Rickey Dudley, the former Buckeye basketball star who is starting only because returning starter D.J. Jones underwent off-season heart surgery.

Dudley has heart and soft hands. He cradled Hoying’s pass for a 32-yard gain.

“I greased it in there,” said Hoying, who completed 24 of 35 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns. “It’s probably a throw I wouldn’t have thrown at any other part of the game.”

Dudley didn’t care.

“They had a linebacker covering me,” said Dudley, who received a congratulatory postgame hug from NFL Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow. “I pretty much had him.”

After that, George went to work. He bullied his way for seven yards from the Penn State 13. Then, just as Hoying was stumbling over center Juan Porter’s feet, George took the handoff and raced six yards around left end for the touchdown with 1:42 remaining.

“I just wanted to score, win and get out of here,” said George, who finished with 105 yards on 24 carries.

Not so fast. Penn State had one last chance.

In the end, it came down to a fourth-and-19 situation from the Nittany Lion 49. Quarterback Wally Richardson, who completed only 12 of 27 passes for 173 yards, had wide receiver Bobby Engram open near the end zone . . . and underthrew him.

Engram took his helmet off, crouched on the ground and slowly shook his head. Moments later, the small Ohio State fan contingent began mocking the home crowd with taunts of “We Are . . . Ohio State.”

“It comes down to who makes the last big play,” Engram said, “and they did. We know we could have won the game.”

Penn State has lost two in a row at home for the first time since 1992. Things are so bad that last season’s Rose Bowl champions find themselves two games behind Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference standings. Many more losses and the Nittany Lions will be thinking Alamo Bowl--and won’t that be a big draw.

“I think we have a good football team,” Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said.

Meanwhile, Cooper knows it. The Buckeyes are good enough to overcome Hollis’ and Cooper’s fourth-down gamble, to say nothing of a run at Pasadena and, who knows, maybe a national championship.

“It seems like I’ve aged 10 years in the last two ballgames,” Cooper said.

Aged, but not minding the wrinkles.